He’s gone, but he certainly won’t be forgotten.

After more than a decade of top quality tennis, Tim Henman played his last competitive match over the weekend in Britain’s Davis Cup clash with Croatia.

Fittingly he won to send the Wimbledon crowd wild and to ensure a 4-1 victory for the home side and, with it, a return to the elite World Group.

Tim was his usual reserved self after the match, preferring to talk about what the victory meant to Great Britain than about the end of his own career.

But, no matter how he may have played down his own retirement, the fact is he will be missed. Not just because he was a nice guy and a pretty decent player but because there is nobody else around to replace him.

With Tim gone, England no longer has a player in the top 100 let alone the top 10 or 20. I was one of those who thought, a decade ago, that his success would help attract a whole new breed of ambitious English tennis players.

It didn’t. In fact I would go as far as to say there are less decent English players around now than there were when Henman first burst into the limelight.

True, Henman never managed to win a Grand Slam despite coming close on several occasions. But he did win plenty of other tournaments and you would have thought that would have inspired some kids to follow in his footsteps.

All we have left now is Andy Murray but he, as he regularly and often irresponsibly points out, is Scottish and I for one will not be able to support him thanks to his childish anti-English sentiments.

The way things are going, it could be decades before another English player rises to the top of the sport and that will only serve to make Tim’s legacy seem all the more impressive.

Anyway, so long Tim and thanks for serving up so many good, if not fantastic, memories.

Arsenal’s year

You may recall that, in my pre-season predictions, I suggested this would be Arsenal’s year. With Henry gone this would be the time for the kids to move out of his shadow and blossom, I had said.

At the time I received numerous emails and even a couple of phone calls questioning my sanity. One Manchester United fan even suggested I should go forth and multiply, though not in so many words.

Well, here we are, admittedly only a few games into the season, but Arsenal sit proudly on top of the league having shown that they are really up for it this season.

They are already two points ahead of Manchester United with a game in hand and playing football that is both a pleasure to watch and, unlike last season, extremely effective.

I know it is way too early to say I was right. There is far too much football left to be played for any self back patting. But I have to say from what I have seen of Arsene’s boys so far, things are looking good.

I just wish I had had enough faith in my own theories to stick a few pounds on them back before the season kicked off.

That’ll teach me.

Kasper Schmeichel

Two months ago Kasper Schmeichel was third choice goalkeeper at Manchester City and many, me included, suspected he was just trying to make a living off his father’s legacy.

Too often the sons of legends try to forge careers in the same sport as their old men only to fail to live up to their father’s reputations. Think Jordi Cruyff, Darren Ferguson and Stephen Clemence.

But Kasper, it turns out, is actually quite darned good.

He may not have the physical presence of his Dad but he more than makes up for with his energy, athleticism and attitude.

Now, after keeping four clean sheets in City’s first six games and establishing himself as number one at Eastlands, he has been rewarded with a new, improved four-year contract.

Only just out of his teens, Kasper is still a baby in goalkeeping terms and he still has a long, long way to go before he can even think about being compared to his father in any real sense.

But from what we have seen so far, I think this could end up being one kid who really does manage to fill his father’s sporting boots.

Quarter-final stages

What is it about English teams and quarter-finals?

Over the years we have got used to the men’s football team getting knocked out at that stage of major competitions – it’s almost become traditional.

And then, this summer, the under-21s showed they can more than match their grown-up counterparts by exiting their European Championships at the same point.

Last week then English cricket team were knocked out of the 20/20 World Cup at the super 8 stage – effectively the quarter finals. And that was quickly followed by the women’s soccer team who lost their World Cup quarter-final to the USA 3-0.

Now I am fully expecting the rugby team to bow out of the World Cup at the same stage in the next few days just to round things off.

If I didn’t know better, I would say we are cursed.

Or maybe just not very good.

Contact James on: [email protected]